The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

’The deities said, ’O illustrious one,
thou art the lord of all the earth as also of all
the deities. With thy permission, O highly blessed
one, we desire to perform a sacrifice. The person
who has not obtained by lawful means the earth whereon
to make the sacrificial altar, earns not the merit
of the sacrifice he performs. Thou art the Lord
of all the universe consisting of its mobile and immobile
objects. Hence, it behoveth thee to grant us
a piece of earth for the sacrifice we wish to make.’

“The deities said, ’Our wishes, O holy
one, have been crowned with fruition. We shall
perform our sacrifice even here with large Dakshina.
Let, however, the Munis always adore the piece of earth.
Then there came to that place Agastya and Kanwa and
Bhrigu and Atri and Vrishakapi, and Asita and Devala.
The high-souled deities then, O thou of unfading glory,
performed their sacrifice. Those foremost of gods
concluded it in due time. Having completed that
sacrifice of theirs on the breast of that foremost
of mountains. Himavat, the deities attached to
the gift of earth a sixth part of the merit arising
from their sacrifice. The man who makes a gift
of even a span of earth (unto a Brahmana) with reverence
and faith, has never to languish under any difficulty
and has never to meet with any calamity. By making
a gift of a house that keeps out cold, wind, and sun,
and that stand upon a piece of clean land, the giver
attains to the region of the deities and does not
fall down even when his merit becomes exhausted.
By making a gift of a residential house, the giver,
possessed of wisdom, lives, O king, in happiness in
the company of Sakra. Such a person receives
great honours in heaven. That person in whose
house a Brahmana of restrained sense, well-versed in
the Vedas, and belonging by birth to a family of preceptors,
resides in contentment, succeeds in attaining to and
enjoying a region of high felicity.[341] After the
same manner, O best of the Bharatas, by giving away
a shed for the shelter of kine that can keep out cold
and rain and that is substantial in structure, the
giver rescues seven generations of his race (from
hell). By giving away a piece of arable earth
the giver attains to excellent prosperity. By
giving a piece of earth containing mineral wealth,
the giver aggrandises his family and race. One
should never give away any earth that is barren or
that is burnt (arid); nor should one give away any
earth that is in close vicinity to a crematorium, or
that has been owned and enjoyed by a sinful person
before such gift. When a man performs a Sraddha
in honour of the Pitris on earth belonging to another
person, the Pitris render both the gift of that earth
and the Sraddha itself futile.[342] Hence, one possessed
of wisdom should buy even a small piece of earth and
make a gift of it. The Pinda that is offered